In Woodson We Trust

Remember a few months back when many fans were calling for Mike Woodson's job? After yet another colossal acquisition this weekend, all fans should now be calling for Woody's raise.

After the first weekend of the annual Little 500 week in Bloomington yielded a few big time reinforcements to the depth chart, the momentum continued into the second and final weekend. While Myles Rice and Oumar Ballo were home run pick-ups, getting Kanaan Carlyle from Stanford could turn out to be a grand slam. The 6'3" combo guard was wildly inefficient in his freshman campaign as a Cardinal (streaky shooting splits of 38.6% FG/32.0% 3/77.6% FT and an alarming 2.7 to 2.9 assist to turnover ratio), but he has a ton of promise as a microwave scorer.

His addition is yet another major move for this program, and Mike Woodson and his staff have things heading back in the right direction. You can say whatever you would like about the way that Woody operates, but you can not say that his ways are ineffective. He is never shy about demanding more from his players, and he is simultaneously never scared of reminding his guys how much they mean to him.

With so much success so far in an offseason immediately following a rough 2023-2024 campaign, one might wonder why players would be so quick to commit to the cream and crimson. Obviously, Mike Woodson has a welcoming way with words, but he has received public support from numerous players who have confirmed that he not only walks the walk but genuinely makes young men better players and people.

This was a basketball program in complete and utter shambles prior to the hiring of Mike Woodson in 2021. Things have been extremely volatile in the first few seasons of his reign running the show from the sidelines in Bloomington, but it is becoming more and more obvious that this entire fanbase must remain patient with Woody. His methods may be questionable at times, but the man flat out gets the job done at the end of the day.

Keep going, Woody!